Pakistan makes another deft move in Sikh domain by partly facilitating unhindered access to Kartarpur Sahib shrine

 

Jagtar Singh

Chandigarh: In continuation with the strategic moves to reconnect the Sikhs to their land of the birth, Pakistan today announced a major step to facilitate unhindered access to Kartarpur Sahib shrine for which 4 km corridor has been constructed by withdrawing the condition of passport for the Sikh devotees.

The construction of this all-weather corridor started after India and Pakistan entered into agreement last year to fulfil the demand of the Sikhs to free access Kartarpur Sahib from Dera Baba Nanak in India separated by river Ravi and distance of about 4 km. Kartarpur Sahib is the final resting place of Guru Nanak where he spent more than his last 17 years and gave practical shape to his model of socio-religious-economic model of ideal society. He was a revolutionary rather than being just a reformist. It is this aspect that differentiates him from other religious personalities in the reformist Bhakti movement.

Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted in the morning waiving of the condition of passport for the Sikh devotees to visit Kartarpur Sahib through this corridor. The prime ministers of the two countries would inaugurate the corridor from their respective sides in second week of this month. Now only identity card would do. The condition of registration in advance has also been withdrawn by Pakistan.

This announcement virtually accepts the Sikh demand for unhindered access to their shrines left out in Pakistan that it part of their daily prayer. Now only the $20 fee condition remains. The Sikh leaders in Congress and Akali Dal have been attacking Pakistan  by dubbing this fee as ‘jazia’-a penal tax that used to be levied on Hindus during the regime of Mughal ruler Aurengzab. However, the Sikhs at large have repeatedly asserted that this is not the issue and these leaders are making unnecessary noises and creating hurdles.

While Imran Khan  made the announcement, the comments made by Pakistani Punjab Governor Chaudhary Mohammad Sarvar in the evening are significant. While addressing a group of Sikh devotees that had entered Pakistan yesterday as part of the Nagar Kirtan procession from Delhi headed by Delhi Akali leader Harvinder Singh Sarna at Nankana Sahib, he said the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor would go a long way in cementing the bond between Pakistan and the Sikhs. At the same time, he expressed the hope that this development would pave the way for normalisation of relationships between the two countries.

It may be mentioned that Pakistan allowed only this group to take Nagar Kirtan to Nankana Sahib while rejecting the request of the Shiromani Akali Dal led Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, much to the consternation of New Delhi. The group leader Paramjit Singh Sarna, a former president of DSGMC, was not allowed to cross the border by Immigration citing a 2008 case against him. He has been to Pakistan several times including the last month since the registration of the case in which no chargesheet has been filed.

It is pertinent to mention that the demand to have direct access to Kartarpur Sahib was first raised in 2001 by a group headed by Kuldip Singh Wadala who earlier was with Akali Dal. Five members of the group have been praying every month since then at the spot that later was developed as Darshan Asthan  every month without any break. Wadala is no more.  It is this group that deserves the credit for this historical development, not any political party or any political leader.

The initiative, however, had come from Pakistan and the Indian media reacted adversely attacking it as corridor of terror. More than 35,000 people have been killed in Punjab militancy during a period of about decade and a half beginning 1980. Pakistan has been under attack for inciting militancy in this state. The situation in Kashmir worsened much later. Several Sikh militant leaders are said to be staying across the border.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh welcomed the announcement made by Imran Khan but at the same time, tweeted that the passport condition be waived for non-Sikh devotees too. There is nothing wrong with it except that fact that the free access has been demand only by the Sikhs.

The Kartarpur Sahib Corridor has long term strategic dimensions in the context of relationship between the Sikhs and Pakistan and between India and Pakistan.

Imran Khan also announced waiver of $20 fee on special occasions. Some more concessions are not ruled out.